Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen - Lost In The Ozone (1971)

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”Lost In The Ozone” ?  Cult !

I remember very well when I bought this vinyl LP (at the time) in a Paris record shop a few months after it US release. I was barely twenty and had been immediately attracted by the name of the band and the fancy cover à la Freak Brothers (a famous counter-cultural comics). I ran home to play this strange object and was immediately blown up ! I still have this vinyl today, and listening to it again on CD I must say that fifty years after its release, this cult album sounds like it was recorded last week !

Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen was founded in 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a renowned university town, by pianist George Frayne aka Commander Cody, and moved to Berkeley, California, in 1969. Around Cody were Billy C. Farlow (lead vocals and harmonica), Bill Kirchen (lead guitar and trombone), John Tichy (rhythm guitar), Andy Stein (fiddle and sax), Steve 'West Virginia Creeper' Davis (pedal steel guitar), 'Buffalo' Bruce Barlow (bass) and Lance Dickerson (drums), a joyful bunch of solid instrumentalists.

The album  rear cover photo of the band in 1971

The early 1970s were a time when post-flower power bands revisited country music and “invented” neo-country or country-rock in the steps of the Byrds and Grateful Dead with groups like the Flying Burrito Brothers and New Riders of The Purple Sage who injected anti-establishment lyrics in their songs. At that game CC&HLPA was hitting hard. Rarely has a new band reached such a high level on a debut album. Many songs on “Lost In The Ozone” have become timeless country-rock hits.

Not a hot rod Lincoln, just a bus

CC&HLPA invented their own country-rock blend : generous doses of rock'n'roll (“My Home in My Hand”) and rockabilly (“Midnight Shift”, “20 Flight Rock”); some bluegrass (“Lost in the Ozone”) and boogie-woogie (“Back to Tennessee”, “Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar”); country energetic songs (“Wine Do Yer Stuff”, “Daddy's Gonna Treat You Right”) and sorrowful ballads (“Seeds and Stems Again Blues“ ― not a blues though ―, “Family Bible”, “What's the Matter Now ?”). And a lot of fantasy for good measure with a cover of a 1955 song, “Hot Rod Lincoln”, which became a kind of trademark for the band. Not talking of quantities of booze (“wine, wine, wine do your stuff… take me for a ride”, “one drink of wine, two drinks of gin”…) and dope (“down to seeds and stems”) to stimulate inspiration.

The result was that their music immediately seduced audiences as different as hippie-likes and rednecks, an incredible achievement at the time ! Listening back to this fantastic work today is still pure jubilation just as it was the first time ! ●

Commander Cody live through the years

■ Outdoor concert, Berkeley, 1971 : https://youtu.be/ueCZkJBFIk8
■ “Seeds and Stems Again Blues”, 1971 : https://youtu.be/Nh_fUHi67I8
■ Audio live, The Keystone, Berkeley, 1975 (full show, set list below the fix screen) : https://youtu.be/Hi_Y-hZ6ozI
■ Asbury Park, NJ, 1977 (full concert, set list below the video) : https://youtu.be/HR-33sqd_GA
■ “There's A Riot Goin' On”/“Lost In The Ozone Again”, Paris, France, 1980 : https://youtu.be/AGCo-ndTCoA
■ “Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar”/“Too Much Fun”, Las Vegas, 1989 : https://youtu.be/TX_qh4sHVkc?t=74
■ Austin, 1994 : https://youtu.be/uKhOfx87xd4

■ "Seeds and Stems Again Blues", Turkey Trot Acres, 2004 : https://youtu.be/s9QIpSg6E_k
■ “Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar”, 2009 : https://youtu.be/n8DcjVdggBQ
■ “Oh Momma Momma”, Powerhouse Pub, Folsom, CA, 2009 : https://youtu.be/5vfZ6Pon7DY
■ Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, 2009 :
→ #1 : https://youtu.be/-QscGsghuGk
→ #2 : https://youtu.be/UcEtl6ovyXQ
→ #3 : https://youtu.be/IA-YADaciQM
→ #4 : https://youtu.be/DWVXMZUZpuE
■ Rochester, NY, 2010 (entire show) : https://youtu.be/qS3hF3vzj90?t=27
■ “Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar”, Paradise, CA, 2010 : https://youtu.be/d__mWrCe19Q

■ Waterfront Blues Festival, Portland, Oregon, 2010 :
→ "Rock that Boogie" : https://youtu.be/mPv-flrYgQk
→ "Truck Drivin' Man" : https://youtu.be/IPOw0q_j11U
→ "Oh Momma Momma" : https://youtu.be/uKoX0bZEQag
■ "Hot Rod Lincoln", Winthrop Blues Fest., 2011 : https://youtu.be/krJuOZv49hg
■ “It Should Have Been Me”, Black Oak Casino, Tuolomne, CA, 2011 : https://youtu.be/CZl5NbgEwMw
■ “Oh Momma Momma”/”Hot Rod Lincoln”, Town Crier Cafe, Beacon, NY, 2011 : https://youtu.be/El35okII2DM
■ Mauch Chunk Opera House, Jim Thorpe, PA, 2012 : https://youtu.be/7zFyseEx7Uw
■ "Hot Rod Lincoln", Fort Wayne, IN, 2012 : https://youtu.be/mdjFEM8CpYA

■ Londonderry, NH, 2012 :
→ “Truck Drivin' Man” : https://youtu.be/OajpPeqISvo
→ “House Of Blue Lights” : https://youtu.be/cP7QML4k5vU
■ “Too Much Fun”/“Riot In Cell Block # 9”, Country Club Saloon, Loomis, CA, 2013 : https://youtu.be/d8FKY-jYSxs
■ The Record Collector, Bordentown, NJ, 2014 :
→ https://youtu.be/ROyASTCtR1o
→ “Rock That Boogie Till the Break of Day”/“Smoke ! Smoke ! Smoke ! (That Cigarette)”/“Roll Your Own” : https://youtu.be/dslQRYr_79o
→ "Too Much Fun”/“There's a Riot Goin' On” : https://youtu.be/-vcd6fSWvfo
→ "Thanks a Lot Lone Ranger” : https://youtu.be/4IffxGvYDHQ
→ “House of Blue Lights”/”That Should Have Been Me” : https://youtu.be/In3HeaT8Meo

■ Moondog's, Blawnox, PA, 2015 :
→ “Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar” : https://youtu.be/4FZEpQtCdQA
→ "That Should Have Been Me” : https://youtu.be/VByBgjcdGjk
■ Camp Jam, 2015 : https://youtu.be/MfFTuZk3KeM
■ “Too Much Fun”, Earl's Hideaway, Sebastian, 2016 : https://youtu.be/2FqddlKoz0Y
■ Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, 2018 : https://youtu.be/1GBYJL2Q6H4
■ “Hot Rod Lincoln”, Woonsocket, RI, 2019 : https://youtu.be/AJhPslYTV-g

Hot Rod Cody

The Freak Brothers

George Frayne aka Commander Cody, 1944-2021